by Sophia Gray
I could feel the men around me tense up. The air filled with their anxiety as we listened to the men approaching the car. An arm shot out in front of me, holding me back against the roof of the car. I looked around. I recognized Mick, but I didn’t know who any of the other guys were, and I didn’t see Mason. Where the hell was Mason?
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” I heard Skull as he taunted everyone.
Then rapid gunfire erupted.
The guys all jumped when they heard the fully automatic machine guns rip the night open around them.
“I don’t have a gun,” I heard someone say. I looked up, and it was Mason, talking to Mick. Mick pulled the assault rifle off his shoulder and handed it to him.
“Get down,” my rescuer told me.
“There are only two of them,” Mason said.
“So that makes four including Skull and the other guy,” Mick added.
“Right. We’ve got four shooters. From what I can tell, only two of them have automatic weapons. Skull and the other guy might be going back to the SUV that pulled up, so let’s get these two guys out of the way,” Mason said.
“Piece of cake,” said Mick.
“Yep, piece of cake. Give ’em hell, boys,” Mason said, and the night erupted around me.
I crouched down against the roof of the car, wishing I’d stayed inside it. Gunfire blasted all around me. There was the rapid fire of Skull’s backup gunmen. Then there was the pulsing gunfire of Mason and his men shooting back.
My rescuer fell to the ground in front of me. He’d been shot by one of Skull’s men. I quickly grabbed the rifle from his hands.
“No offense,” I told his dead body as I grabbed the weapon and held it against my chest. I knelt back down against the car and listened to the gunshots all around me.
The gunfire started to thin out. I heard a couple of cheers as one of the automatic weapons was silenced. Then I heard a couple more assault rifles go out. Storm’s Angels were down to just Mick and Mason.
They closed in on either side of me, pressing against the car.
“We’ve got the one guy out there, and it looks like Skull and his other shooter are in the car,” Mason told him.
“I’ll get this guy. You start heading over there,” Mick said.
“You sure?” Mason asked.
“Oh yeah, I’ve got him.” Mick turned around to face the car and started stepping to the side, walking to the back of the car until he cleared it.
I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see Mick get taken out by one of Skull’s men. I heard both of their guns go off—Mick’s and Mason’s. I didn’t look to see where Mason was shooting.
“All right,” Mick cheered.
“Yeah, now it’s just me and Skull,” Mason said.
“I’ll cover you,” Mick told him as he started to walk away.
The night went silent again. I hated the silence. At least with the gunfire, I knew what was going on. I could hear the action and tell where everything was. In the silence, the only thing I could hear was the hum of the SUV’s engine, the car Skull’s other two shooters had pulled up in.
I wanted to run out in front and grab the automatic weapons that were lying next to his two dead shooters, but I didn’t know who or what else was out there waiting on us to make a move like that. For all I knew, as soon as I ran out to grab one of those guns, someone would have opened up on me, taking me out.
“The tension is killing me,” I said out loud, unable to hold it in any longer.
“Me, too, Clara,” Mick said. “Me, too, but Mason’s got this. They were literally face to face a little while ago, and they didn’t do shit. I don’t know what the deal is with those two, unless they’re waiting for some special main even style fight. Wait, he’s trying to say something.”
I stood up and turned around to face Mick, to see if I could catch what Mason was trying to tell him.
“He’s not here,” I heard him shout over the SUV.
“What do you mean, he’s not there?” Mick asked, lowering his gun.
“Uh, Mick,” I said, feeling an arm wrap around my neck and the barrel of a gun press against my temple.
“Oh shit, Mason. We found him,” Mick said as he turned around to see Skull with me in his grasp.
“Tonight just keeps getting more and more interesting, don’t you think?” Skull asked Mick as he started to pull me away from him.
“Hey, man, just let her go,” Mick urged him. “This beef is between you and Mason. Leave her out of it.”
“Oh, she’s going to be left out of it. Where’s Mason?” he demanded. “I want him to witness this.”
“Witness what?” Mick asked. “What are you planning on doing, Skull?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to kill this traitor, and then I’m going to kill the two of you.”
For some unexplainable reason, I wasn’t afraid he was going to shoot me. Maybe it was because I’d been through so much already, but it felt like he was bluffing. It felt like Skull was just trying to use me as a distraction so he could buy some time to find an escape. I could almost hear it in his voice. He wasn’t about to kill anybody. He was about to try to run like the coward he was.
“Put your weapon down, Mick,” Skull told him, and I was surprised to see Mick comply.
He raised his hands and lowered the rifle he had to the ground, slowly, carefully. He stood back up without taking his eyes off of Skull with an arm around me and the gun to my head.
“Good, now where the hell is Mason?” he hissed.
“I’m right behind you,” Mason said, and I felt Skull’s body tense up against mine. I figured Mason must have had his gun drawn on Skull the way Skull had his drawn on me.
“You idiot, put your gun down. See, unlike you, I can pull the trigger, and when I do, your precious little girlfriend bites the dust,” Skull snapped.
“Fair enough, but you have to ask yourself one thing first, Skull. Am I holding one of my assault rifles to your head, or is this one of the automatic weapons your boys brought in to play with a little while ago?”
I felt his grip on me loosen, and his gun shifted back from my head.
I took the opportunity to turn away from Skull, draw my weapon, and back myself towards Mick, who was also pulling his gun back up from the ground.
“Okay, you got me, Mason,” Skull said, raising his gun above his head. “Maybe we can talk now and work something out that will benefit both of us.”
“Can you believe this guy?” I asked Mick under my breath.
Skull had something up his sleeve, though. Even in the nearly complete darkness around us, I could see his eyes smiling back at us. He was about to try to pull something at the last minute to get himself out of trouble. Classic Skull.
“Why doesn’t Mason just shoot him?” I asked, growing frustrated at the little game these two were playing.
“I think he wants a fight. This has built up long enough between the two of them. Mason isn’t going to want to shoot him at this point,” Mick explained.
“But he’s got him,” I argued.
“Oh yeah. I think he’s had numerous opportunities to drop him right then and there tonight, but he wants a fight. He wants the satisfaction of actually punching Skull, I think,” Mick continued. “You have to remember, Mason was brought into the MC by a bunch of old school guys. Bar fights were their thing. They used to start fights just for the hell of it. No reason. They’d get bored, have a few drinks, and start knocking the hell out of folks.”
“You’re kidding, right?” I asked, but from his laughter behind me, I knew he wasn’t. Maybe that was the reason for Skull’s unsettling smile. He knew Mason wasn’t about to shoot him. He knew he had an opportunity to still get the upper hand.
“I could shoot him from right here,” I told Mick. “I’ve got the perfect shot. Even I couldn’t miss it.”
“Mason would hate you forever if you did that. Don’t rob him of this,” Mick warned me.
That was
when it happened. Mason was getting his fight after all. Skull dropped his gun and spun around. He grabbed Mason’s rifle and the two of them struggled for the firearm.
Mick and I relaxed. It was just the four of us now, and I got the feeling that Mick’s opinion of the fight was to let it take its course. He didn’t seem too worried about who the winner would be.
Maybe he was just too confident in Mason’s abilities as a brawler.
Chapter 26
Mason
“Still too afraid to shoot me, huh?” Skull taunted me as he grabbed my rifle and used it to push me back.
“Why would I settle for shooting you, Skull? That’s like cheating. It’s far too easy to just take someone out with a gun. We need to have a real fight,” I told him.
“Then stop running your mouth and fight.” He pushed harder.
I realized I had been mistaken about Skull all this time. He was a smooth talker, and a smooth dresser. He almost always wore suits, usually a black suit with a dark red shirt and a black tie. He always wore that damn necklace with the Skull hanging from it. He wasn’t built like the guys in the MC. He had a pretty narrow frame, and he kept himself very pretty by comparison to the people I was usually around. He didn’t seem like much of a fighter. He seemed like the kind of guy who would rather shoot his enemies than engage them in an actual fight.
Honestly, I didn’t even expect him to use a gun. He struck me as someone who would rather have all his dirty work handled by someone else, keeping his pretty little hands clean. He was a bitch in my book. He may have been creepy up close with his evil clown smile and the serpentine way he moved, but that was just how he manipulated everyone into doing his dirty work for him.
He was proving me wrong tonight, and it was a damn shame to think all of his talent was about to be put to waste when I finally got the chance to take his ass out. One of the reasons I wanted to force him to actually fight me was so I could actually see who he really was underneath that creepy show he put on for everyone.
Skull was starting to drop his front, but I could see him fighting to keep the mask on as long as he could. The creepy clown smile was gone, replaced by an angry man gritting his teeth as he pushed his opponent back.
“You can’t fight me,” he taunted. “You’ve had so many chances tonight to take me out, Mason, and I think I know why you haven’t taken a single one.”
“Why’s that, Skull?” I asked.
“I define you,” he said, pushing me away. He let go of me and stood his ground as I tumbled backwards. He adjusted his tie while he waited for me to respond or come back.
“You don’t know me,” I growled.
“Sure I do,” he said confidently. “You are so hell-bent on taking me out that you can’t actually do it, because you know as soon as I’m out of the picture, you won’t have anything else to work towards, and I think that scares you.”
“Nothing about you scares me, Skull,” I told him.
He just laughed. “Then come on,” he challenged me. “I’m right here. I’m unarmed. Let’s do this. One of us isn’t walking away tonight. Let’s go ahead and figure out who that is so I can go home and get some sleep.”
I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to shoot him or just kick his ass and then shoot him, so I charged at him with the gun in my hands still. I grabbed the barrel and swung it at him like a baseball bat.
He dodged it beautifully, contorting his body so there was no way I could have hit him.
“Is that all you’ve got, Mason?” he asked. “I figured by your reputation this was your thing. I heard you were one hell of a fighter, not just some punk who relied on guns to handle his business. So far tonight, though, I’ve only seen you shoot a couple of guys. I haven’t seen you actually fight. Put the gun down.”
He turned to the side and assumed a martial arts stance. I had never been so wrong about anyone before in my life. I should have shot him the first time I had the chance. Tonight would have ended long ago, and most of Storm’s Angels would be headed back to HQ with no more threat of Skull or his men hanging over our heads.
Now, I was about to be stuck in a fight with a jackass who only looked like he didn’t know what he was doing.
“Put the gun down, Mason. If you want to fight, let’s fight.” His voice was calm and smooth again.
I had already figured out how he’d created the almost mythical legend of himself on the street with his smooth tongue and his creepy smile. He played right into everyone’s perception of him, so it wasn’t as unnerving anymore. What was unnerving was realizing I’d talked a bigger game than I was prepared to back up with him.
One thing was still for certain, though: there was no way in hell I was talking things over with him to try to work out a deal. He wasn’t going to walk away from here. He wasn’t going home from this one.
I glanced at Mick and Clara, and I realized it was starting to get brighter outside again. We weren’t too far from sunrise, it seemed. Traffic would be picking up soon, and people would have to see the outcome of what happened overnight here on the side of the highway. I hoped Mick had the good sense to call a cleaner while I finished off Skull so we could get the hell out of here.
“What are you waiting on?” His voice tormented me.
Every time he spoke, it shook me a little more and made it harder for me to focus on what I came here to do tonight.
“Come on, Mason, handle your business.”
I was beginning to see red. I charged him again with the gun.
“You know,” he said, catching the gun with both hands, “for someone who believes so much in hand-to-hand combat, I haven’t seen you put this fucking gun down.” He pushed the gun against me again.
“You know, Skull, I’ve learned something about you tonight,” I responded.
“What did you learn?” he asked me.
“You talk way too damn much. That’s all you are,” I told him.
“I’m glad you noticed,” he said with a smirk spreading across his face.
He pushed me back with my rifle and tucked a foot behind one of mine, tripping me and pushing me down onto the ground. I fell hard onto my back, almost knocking the wind out of my chest.
He pressed the rifle against my throat as he straddled me. “Part of what they teach you in martial arts, is how to use leverage. You learn how to use a combination of gravity, your weight, and the other person’s weight against your opponent. See, even though you’re a bigger man than I am, I’ve got you on your back, and I’ve got this gun pressed against your throat. There’s nothing you can do about it, either, because I’m using my weight against you. If you’d like, maybe I can show you how to do this sometime. You’re coming to work for me after tonight, right?” he asked with a chuckle.
“I don’t want to learn anything from you,” I said as I pushed back on the gun, trying to get it off my throat.
“That hurts my feelings, Mason,” he mocked me. “But that’s okay, because you’re not coming back tonight anyway.”
He reached to his side, holding me down with only one hand, and he produced a handgun from his pants or suit pocket, or maybe just thin air. I was starting to consider that maybe all the stories about him were true
“Now, before I shoot you, I want you to know that I have really enjoyed being a thorn in your side,” he said as he leveled the gun at my face.
I stared down the barrel of his 9mm. It wasn’t the first time I’d had a gun shoved in my face like that. If he thought that was going to scare me, especially with his smooth talk, he was pretty damn mistaken. I’d had so many guns pulled on me that way before that it had actually become a pretty common occurrence at one point before we established our dominance on the streets.
With his gun in my face, he didn’t realize it, but he’d actually given me the upper hand again. While I wasn’t sure how he was putting so much weight on the rifle at my neck, I knew how to get out from underneath the handgun, but I couldn’t move again. This time it was because of his weight holding
my arms down with the gun.
“It’s a shame we couldn’t work together, Mason, but you’ve got to realize the world is changing. There just isn’t room for street thugs like you and your biker gang anymore. Organized crime is going corporate. My business is so much bigger now than you could ever hope to be,” he continued.
“Just pull the trigger already,” I sighed.
“I can’t do that. You know that. It would be too easy to just wipe you out. Besides, I’m trying to pay you a compliment, and you aren’t listening,” he said.
“I don’t need compliments from the likes of you, Skull. Now, blow my brains out or get the fuck off me,” I snapped.